“I expect us to make the playoffs,” Favre said. “I would hope that every guy in the locker room feels the same way. Why think any different?”

The last two weeks have done nothing to inspire confidence among Jet fans. Two brutal losses, at home to Denver and in San Francisco, dented outsiders’ view of this team, but the players swear they have not lost their confidence.

The Jets still control their playoff destiny with three games remaining. At 8-5, they are tied with the Patriots and Dolphins atop the AFC East, but they would win the division if they don’t lose again.

Nose tackle Kris Jenkins said the beating the team has taken in the last two weeks from media and fans is to be expected.

“We’re put on a pedestal that’s more like one of those dunking tanks,” Jenkins said. “As long as you’re doing good, you’re on a pedestal – smile, everybody’s looking at you. But everybody is also kind of looking for that one point that that ball hits that target so you go, ‘whoosh.’ “

Adding to the feeling of doom and gloom around this team is the franchise’s history. The Jets have made an art out of breaking their fans’ hearts through the years. If this year’s squad that started 8-3 fails to make the playoffs, it will be right there alongside Al Groh’s 2000 disaster (lost final three games), the 1994 five-game slide that began with Dan Marino’s fake spike and ended Pete Carroll’s brief tenure, and Bruce Coslet’s swan song in 1993 (lost final three games – again).

“I’m aware of what’s happened here in the past for the most part,” Favre said. “But to be quite honest, I don’t care. I care about what’s happening in the next three weeks. . . . I can’t control what happened in the past here.

“I was a Saints fan growing up. I never quite got to wearing a bag over my head, but I was close. Every time something went wrong, same old thing. And I was miserable. And I’m sure Jets fans probably feel the same way as I did growing up as a Saints fan.”

Some of the Jets’ mishaps of the last two weeks would make Archie Manning blush. They are 4-for-21 (19 percent) on third down over the two games. Their wide receivers have eight catches for 55 yards and no touchdowns. The defense has given up 859 yards, with little pressure on the quarterback and coverage softer than CC Sabathia’s stomach.

“We backed ourselves into a corner,” safety Kerry Rhodes said. “We’ve got to come out and win, which is good for us. In situations where we’ve been counted out, we’ve done well. In situations where we were expected to achieve and stride forward, we didn’t do so well. No we’re in the position we like, I guess, from seeing how we reacted this year. We know the opportunity is there for us if we win our games. We’re in the driver’s seat.”